Category: Specialty Classes

Taking ownership of a firearm in California generally requires a Firearm Safety Certificate (there are a few exceptions, mostly for CCW holders, active or honorably discharged military, and active or retired CA or federal law enforcement officers—check here to see if you qualify).

If you already know what you’re doing, you can take the test at most gun stores when you do your other paperwork, and for most people, this is honestly probably the easiest way to go—we mainly offer this as a convenience for students after a class.

Please note that the FSC materials cover the basics of not shooting yourself and of safe gun storage. That’s obviously an important start, but it’s not training and it doesn’t teach you to actually shoot. If you’re new to firearms, we do recommend taking a shooting class.

If you lost your current Firearm Safety Certificate, you can get a replacement from (and only from) the instructor who issued it for $15 without re-taking the test. Otherwise you have to re-test at full price and you can do that from any certified FSC instructor.

Cost: $25 testing fee, includes certificate if you pass

Requirements

You must be over 18 and present a valid California driver’s license or California Department of Motor Vehicles ID card. The test consists of 30 multiple-choice questions and you need to get at least 23 right to pass. The certificate is good for 5 years and you’ll need to bring it with you whenever you do paperwork to acquire a firearm[*].

* Please note that as of January 1, 2015, receiving ANY firearm in California, including long guns (rifles and shotguns), requires a Firearm Safety Certificate and a “safe handling demonstration”. If you have an existing Handgun Safety Certificate, you may continue to use that for handguns only. If you want to take ownership of a long gun, you’ll need to get the new Firearm Safety Certificate, which is valid for both handguns and long guns.

The SARC seminar, developed by I.C.E. Training, is being offered for free by a coalition of professional personal defense instructors to public school faculty and staff in order to give them practical alternatives to the "Hide & Hope" strategies that are commonly being provided.

The seminars last 2-3 hours and can be taught during or after school hours.

Available to any teacher, staff or administration member of any elementary, middle, high school, college, or licensed daycare provider in the United States. Limit one per customer. You’ll be charged $4.95 for shipping and handling.

Any parent may also send one of these DVDs to the attention of “Principal” or “Superintendent” of their child’s school. If you choose to do this, please use that person’s mailing address.

All of these posters depict unsafe gun handling that could get someone killed in real life

Movies and television are many people’s first and only exposures to firearms and defensive tactics. This means that those in entertainment and media—the actors, writers, directors, fight choreographers, stunt people, art directors, photographers—are setting the only examples for gun handling that many will have. The choice in front of us is whether the examples that people may mimic in real life are safe and responsible or dangerous and stupid.

The flips side of that is fidelity to your characters and your subjects—bad gun handling looks about as realistic as a cowboy movie where everyone rides their horses facing backwards while wearing flip-flops, and it sticks out like a sore thumb to the estimated 80,000,000 gun owners in the country.

You’ll learn about gun safety, operation, handling, ammunition, marksmanship fundamentals, and tactical considerations. We’ll analyze common depictions for the unnecessary, the reckless, and the just plain silly. You’ll learn why a lot of what’s on film and TV is dangerous—and how you can do better for both your craft and your audience.